Special Teams for No. 10 Miami Will Have a New Look this Season
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The Miami Hurricanes will have a brand new look on special teams this season. Jose and Andres Borregales are NFL-bound and making a statement as some of the best kickers in the league, but the Hurricanes are still waiting for an answer on who will be their new kicker.
Early in Fall Camp, Mario Cristobal pointed to it being a "tight" battle between the two new kickers.
“It’s tight,” Cristobal said. “It’s tight. Strong legs, experience. Obviously, our snapper and holder, we think really highly of those guys. So, they’ve been instrumental in helping these guys get better at kicking. And today, we also kicked off, which is a huge part of winning the job as well. Who can kick it out of the end zone, if possible, on every opportunity. But it’s tight, it’s tight. We’re going to put them in every pressure situation as best we can. We’ll figure it out before Week 1.”
Texas transfer Bert Auburn and FAU transfer Carter Davis are battling it out, but it seems that Auburn is starting to edge out in the battle.
"We feel good," Cristobal said. "We feel we feel really good about the kicker. We invested a lot of time and effort into scouting that part, and why we went that direction with a couple of guys, and really a third got to battling it out, and we're really close there on making that decision. We feel great about the operation itself--the protection, the snap, the hold. Same thing on the punt team, about the protection, about the coverage that goes with that."
Cristobal continued.
"Our biggest issue last year with kickoff coverage, right? We allowed two, and that really hurt us. We won the games, but certainly could have avoided or prevented us from winning those games. So I think our coverage units, two things--better talent, more big big runners, big strikers, being able to get down the field and ball placement. The accuracy of ball placement is critical for that part as well. Our return game, you know, we'll see. We've got some guys that have been taking reps at the different return spots, and they seem capable of certainly helping us get there."
This is one of the bigger question marks this season for the Canes. A consistent kicker has been one of the many positives over the years in Coral Gables, but now, who knows how that will go? It will be tested on Aug. 31 against No. 6 Notre Dame.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University and is the site lead for the Miami Hurricanes on SI. He can be reached at Twitter @Justice_News5.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.
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